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A.R.B.J Rajapaksha
A.R.B.J Rajapaksha
Mar 26 2026
53- A feather in the cap of Umar
The Sri Lanka Under-20 football team posted a landmark 3-2 win over Maldives in the ongoing SAFF U20 Championship under floodlights in Male after trailing 2-0 at half time on Monday (23).
The momentous triumph ended almost a quarter-century long jinx against their South Asian rivals and also marks another significant achievement for the game here under the pragmatic leadership of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) President Jaswar Umar.
Football analysts reckon that this significant win is another feather in the cap of the head of the Football House under whose stewardship even the senior team has turned a corner in the past 12-months or so having improved its own FIFA World Rankings from 207 to 194.
The famous victory registered at the Galolhu National Stadium in the Maldivian capital city is also the Lankan junior team’s first over their hosts since 2002, when they prevailed 1-0 in the SAFF Championship at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Since that heady success the island-nation had gone winless against Maldives in 13 subsequent ties, including heavy losses in 2009 (5-1) and 2013 (10-0) making the latest victory ground- breaking.
It was Maldives who bossed the first half against the retrieving Lankans and took a deserved 2-0 lead following twin strikes by midfielder Mohamed Imran in the 28th and 45th minutes, respectively.
But, the visitors staged a tremendous fightback after the turnaround with Mohamed Katheem pulling one back in the 46th minute after which Ahmed Hijaazy levelled things in the 63rd minute to make it 2-2.
With tension running high and both teams competing to take the upper hand, Lankan skipper and Player-of-the-Match Hussain Abdullah booted an 88th minute penalty for his team to take the lead 3-2, which they held onto to seal a memorable win.
The tournament includes seven South Asian nations and runs from 23 March to 3 April and it is organised jointly by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) and the Football Association of Maldives.
Sri Lanka is contesting the tournament from Group A alongside Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan and Group B features Bangladesh, India and Pakistan with two top sides progressing to the semifinals on 1 April.
